bans – Page 2 – MMO Fallout

Less Massive: Valve Bans CSGO Servers That Falsify Inventories

Valve has issued a warning to server owners in Counter Strike: Global Offensive that modifications that falsify player inventories are not allowed and must be removed before “further action is taken.” Since Valve’s games are heavily modifiable, players in the community quickly figured out methods to alter servers in order to provide players with weapon skins, items, and other goodies normally only accessible through random drops, lockboxes, and through the paid campaign modes.

Allowing players to claim temporary ownership of CS:GO items that are not in their inventory (Weapon skins, knives, etc.).
Providing a falsified competitive skill group and/or profile rank status or scoreboard coin (e.g., Operation Challenge Coins).
Interfering with systems that allow players to correctly access their own CS:GO inventories, items, or profile.
[To clarify: it is also not acceptable to provide players with custom models and/or weapon skins that do not exist in the CS:GO ecosystem]

The blog post warns that further action will be taken to servers that do not comply with these rules.

We will continue to monitor the players experience on community servers, and may reevaluate if further actions need to be taken to ensure that server operators comply with the request above.

A few servers are already reporting bans via their Game Server Login Token with lengths of two decades. For the unaware, Counter Strike requires game servers to register a GSLT via a persistent account in order to accept players that aren’t on the same network. A new Steam account with a new qualifying phone number is required to open a new GSLT account.

(Source: Counter Strike: GO)

Trion Worlds Declares Light On RNG, Tough on Crime

To say that ArcheAge has had some controversies would be a gross misstatement somewhere on the level of placing a “watch your step” sign on an active minefield, but it looks like Trion Worlds may be willing to amend their ways to get back the good faith and credit of their community. In a post addressing player concerns, community manager Seraphina “Celestrata” Brennan revealed that Trion has been taking steps to alleviate the game of certain RNG mechanics.

While RNG systems won’t be going away completely, Trion wants to alter or completely get rid of high-failure-chance upgrades.

Will RNG ever completely disappear? Most likely no, as that’s not the type of game ArcheAge is. We want a level of challenge to remain, but we don’t want that challenge to be extremely high. Going forward, we want to continue to either remove or mitigate high failure mechanics by adding linear progression systems — I.E.: There should always be another way to get something.

In addition, Brennan points to a recent increase in bot bans thanks to “a renewed interest in reporting from the community itself,” with ban rates increasing by 300%.

(Source: ArcheAge)

Carbine Staff Knocks Down Cheater On Forums

Wildstar staff Cougar took to the forums to publicly respond to a player asking why his account ban hadn’t been dealt with ten days later.

I’m assuming that with your posting here that you don’t mind us talking about your account status in public. I have a spare moment before my next meeting and am doing this on a lark. I understand this opens me up to “oh oh oh my ticket” which I don’t intend to keep up with. I am a fickle beast. You, and your alts, were reported a number of time by players for AFK Botting. We found you afk botting in a PvP Match (which as you know, was a really big issue for us – which is now better thanks to AddOns no longer being able to join matches automatically, among other things). We did our secret stuff … okay afk bot confirmation doesn’t take much clandestine stuff once we are on top of you. We sent you tells over time and you never reacted and continued doing the same thing over and over.

We closed your account. You opened up a ticket in question, asking for us to give you your account back. In that opening salvo of asking us for getting your account back, you admited that you were afk botting while doing homework. You then added 5 replies in two days to the ticket with various stages of pleading/begging. Including internet meme pictures. (http://i2.kym-cdn.co…392/289/116.gif). A few agents have investigated it internally and found your account to be worthy of permanent closure. You are exactly the problem case players have been pleading for us to remove from our game. We agree with them.

Now, why we’ve taken some time to tell you that your ban will not be overturned I’m not sure. So thank you for bringing that to my attention, however you’ll forgive me if we don’t prioritize deserved-to-be-banned-customers over paying ones right now.

(Source: Wildstar)

Eve Online Bans Impersonating Your Own Alts

A recent change to Eve Online’s Terms of Service has prompted several inaccurate reports that CCP now disallows scamming, spying, and sabotage, and is actively banning players for said actions. The alteration, according to CCP, clarified an already in-place rule which made impersonation of another player a bannable offense. For example, pretending to be a representative of an organization to scam a player is considered a bannable offense. Pretending to be an alt of another character is also a bannable offense under this rule. One player (Abdiel Kavash) on the forums asked if impersonating one of your own alts to scam someone was against the rules:

CASE 2: I decide that I want to make some extra money off my past customers, without necessarily having to provide any extra services. I create a new character, Phill McScammer, on my account. I then go talk to a past customer of AbdielCorp and I claim that Phill McScammer is an alt of Abdiel Kavash. Customer falls for it, sends me their money and never sees it again.

Short answer: Yes. GM Karidor’s response:

Your character Phill McScammer impersonated Abdiel Kavash, the same way as Joe McScammer did, thus gets it from us the same way if reported. From our point of view, as well as from a victims, there is no technical difference between those two cases of a character impersonating another.

In fact, CCP views a player claiming affiliation with one of his alternate characters to be on the same level as one player claiming affiliation with another player entirely.

Both characters Phil and Joe used the name Abdiel Kavash to give of the impression they were somehow related to him. The cases are effectively identical.

So if you claim to be an alt of yourself, in CCP’s view you are still lying. In response to a wave of player feedback, CCP has opened a thread to gather further discussion on the newly clarified rules.

(Source: Eve Online)

Perfect World Is Banning Neverwinter Foundry Exploits: Creators And Players

Consider this a classic example of why we can’t have nice things. Neverwinter is just another of Cryptic’s games to feature a foundry, where players can create missions for other players to enjoy for their wonderful stories, deep and thoughtful mission design, and…ah who am I kidding? Neverwinter is an MMO and therefore the community will exploit everything until it is taken away from them. Players quickly found a way to exploit the foundry system, creating missions that are nothing more than a bunch of high value mobs in a pit, unable to fight back while the player farms them for gold, items, and experience.

Unfortunately for players, Perfect World Entertainment is apparently cracking down on large amounts of experience and items gained through the foundry. The patch released earlier today modified gains through the foundry, and Neverwinter has taken action not just against accounts that created the foundry missions, but against players who repeatedly used those foundry missions to level quickly. Some foundry creators are reporting their accounts banned, while others are claiming that their access to creating foundry missions has been revoked. Players who repeatedly used quick-leveling foundry missions are similarly reporting bans.

So far there hasn’t been any official announcement of the bans, apart from player reports.

See People Get Banned In Darkfall: Unholy Wars

I have often said that MMO gamers are a notoriously vindictive bunch, and I count myself as part of that demographic. There is something undeniably satisfying about being able to see that a gold farmer or an abusive player that you reported has been banned, a satisfaction that is generally denied by developers unwilling to divulge any information regarding action taken against accounts. In games like RuneScape, where being banned means removal from the high scores, you can generally assume that someone is banned even if it isn’t explicitly stated.

For Darkfall Unholy Wars, there is the Unholy Banhammer, a database where no-goodniks are strung up on display with their username, clan (if applicable) and reason for ban for everyone to see. The list is populated pretty heavily by gold farming accounts with gibberish names like Fdsdgd Cvdfsggb. You can check out the complete list of names (currently 63) below, updated regularly.

(Source: Unholy Banhammer)

[Not An MMO] Report Bugs in Sim City, Or EA Will Ban You

There was a time long ago when beta testing was a privilege, an agreement between the user and the developer that you would test the game for bugs or to offer feedback on balancing or features, and in return you got to play the game early. The state of beta tests today, which mostly serve as little more than promotional tools and early access demos, is one that the industry only need to look to itself to find who to blame. Perhaps spending years treating a beta like it is a giant pre-release party instead of the low-key bug-busting event it should be was a poor choice.

Recently we’ve seen developers trying to bring beta tests back to their roots, generally through the enforcement of a strict nondisclosure agreement and close discussion with users on the community forums, and a stern reminder that the test is indeed just that: A test. In the case of Electronic Arts and the upcoming beta test for SimCity, they responded in the same manner they always do: They threaten bans. In fact, according to the EULA, if EA thinks you knew about a bug and didn’t report it, you could lose access to “all EA products.”

“It is understood and agreed that, as part of your participation in the Beta Program, it is your responsibility to report all known bugs, abuse of ‘bugs’, ‘undocumented features’ or other defects and problems related to the Game and Beta Software to EA as soon as they are found (‘Bugs’). If you know about a Bug or have heard about a Bug and fail to report the Bug to EA, we reserve the right to treat you no differently from someone who abuses the Bug. You acknowledge that EA reserve the right to lock anyone caught abusing a Bug out of all EA products.”

As you might have guessed, actually banning for such an act would be difficult, if not impossible without the help of a specialized team of psychic mind readers. The wording offers a clear difference between someone failing to report a bug and a person who abuses a bug. So how do you prove someone knows a bug exists? If their account was spotted experiencing but not abusing said bug? There are a million different contexts in which a person could experience a bug and either pass over it due to inexperience in bug testing, not recognize it as being a bug, or not report it for whatever reason. Does that person really deserve to lose access to their entire Origin account for such a crime?

Of course not. It’s likely just a scare tactic. Hopefully.

(Source: Side Questing)

Guild Wars 2 Talks Bots, Gold Farmers, And Bans

As many players of Guild Wars 2 will tell you, a recent explosion in botting has blown into a serious problem for Arenanet and its community. In a post on the official forums, Security Coordinator Mike Lewis went on to discuss recent bans and action taken by Arenanet to curb the legion of bots currently taking up space in his game. Over the past week alone, Arenanet has banned over 1600 bots, and are currently tracking the most commonly used bots while gathering information on additional programs.

We are actively improving our means of detecting ‘bot’ activity in the game automatically. This includes tools for our customer support team to help them verify ‘botting’ reports and efficiently issue account terminations. Recently we have also hired a team of data specialists who will be helping us create more effective tools for analyzing reports of ‘botting.’

Sadly, many of the bots being used are likely through stolen accounts. Remember to practice safe surfing, kids. And if a bot approaches you on the street, don’t get into his van.

(Source: Guild Wars Forums)

RuneScape Reverses, Apologizes For Bans

Here on the internet, we go by a policy of stuff happens. Unless you are licensing your engine in which case the blame can be placed on the engine creator. And when it comes to big updates like Jagex’s latest bot buster, you could also go by the Texas rule of you can’t make an omelette without accidentally shooting a customer or two. So when Jagex implemented a recent update, the result was a number of players being falsely banned.

Unfortunately, whilst updating our systems, a human error occurred which resulted in the accidental banning of a selection of online accounts. These bans have now been reverted and we will be rebooting the servers shortly to ensure that all accounts can log in as normal.

Some players are still reporting that their accounts have yet to be unbanned due to this mistake.

(Source: Facebook)

Jagex Returns to Naming And Shaming Gold Duplicators

In the very old days of RuneScape, back when servers were few and the community was equally tiny, players were banned in a rather public fashion. Not as public as, say, the crucifixions in Roma Victor, but each ban was represented with a system message to warn other potential cheaters. Of course, as the game became more popular, Jagex put a stop on this technique and started simply reporting numbers rather than names.

A bug in RuneScape recently allowed players to gather large amounts of wealth, leading to the ban of many accounts on Jagex’s behalf. Not content with simply banning the accounts, Jagex took to the main page to publicly name some of the offenders.

2QO
- 2475 Total (Maxed Player)
- 606 Days Played
2College
- 2054 Total
- 170 Days Played
TzTok-Roy
- 2327 Total
- 335 Days Played
DeadEternity
- 2496 Total (2 200m xp stats)
- 462 Days Played
Zeke
- 1690 Total
- 121 Days Played
00O0OlI0lIO0
- 856 Total
- 54 Days Played
Tncd
- 1128 Total
- 87 Days Played
lbw
- 976 Total
- 27 Days Played
TvF
- 2132 Total
- 279 Days Played
x4v
- 693 Total
- 157 Days Played
WASTEDMONKEY
- 1978 Total
- 198 Days Played
Rs Completed
- 2496 Total (Maxed Player)
- 302 Days Played
d4rk_mayhem
- 1791 Total
- 296 Days
PlayedSerasha
- 2381 Total
- 334 Days Played
i am WeeHoo
- 1889 Total
- 197 Days Played
FlashZxFOur1
- 1386 Total
- 132 Days Played
Shopkeeper
- 2338 Total
- 256 Days Played

Jagex COO took the time to remind the community once again to report bugs that are found, and assured players the the economy would not be affected by the bans.

For those of you concerned about the rare objects being removed from the game after the bans and rollbacks – don’t be. We have several clever and fair ways of making sure that the numbers of these rares (like party hats) remain the same.

(Source: RuneScape News)

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